Try Begging

Episode 260

Traveling across the ocean on the passenger ship was even more delightful than expected. I sawwhales and dolphins for the first time. 

The towering white icebergs rising from the deep blue seawere both awe-inspiring and terrifying. The endless expanse of the ocean was also strikinglydifferent.Everything was new and fascinating, not just for a three-year-old, but for a thirty-year-old adult aswell. 

Ellie spent each day without a moment of boredom. She ran around the deck, watchedperformances, and ate delicious food until she was stuffed. When the tired child went to bed early, Grace was led by Martha and Joe to the nightly parties. 

She enjoyed the drinks, music, and conversations but did not dance. There was no partner to dancewith. Men occasionally asked her to dance, noticing the absence of a ring on her left hand, but sheturned them all down.

It wasn't until the second day that Grace realized something.Her partner wasn't there. The man had never been her dance partner.Moreover, he was neither her husband, fiancé, nor lover. 

Nothing legally or socially bound her tohim. 

Grace looked at her empty left hand, puzzled. The absence of an engagement ring seemed strange.

It hit her more clearly now. That man had changed a lot.This realization came not only from the emptiness of her left hand. 

He must have known that sending Grace alone to a party full of unmarried men would lead tovarious situations. Instead of preventing it, he had packed several cocktail dresses in her trunk,seemingly encouraging her to enjoy the parties as much as she liked.Feeling strange, Grace decided to adjust her perspective. 

If the Leon Winston she knew were here, he would likely have planted someone to keep an eye onher. He might have even given orders to push any man who approached her overboard.If that were the case, it would be far from the usual definition of 'change,' but compared to the past,he had changed.

 Grace chuckled at the absurd thought.On the fifth morning of the voyage, the ship arrived in Columbia.It was full of surprises. The people of Columbia spoke her native language with a different accent. 

The bustling city, with its skyscrapers like those in Winsford, had a distinctly different atmosphere.Grace, who had always admired the lively city life, wished she could live in a penthouse here. 

However, she couldn't because the waiting staff at the immigration area handed her a train ticket.It was for a train heading to a coastal city in the southeast.Assuming the man had something planned, Grace boarded the train. 

After about six hours traveling along the coast, they arrived at a peaceful resort area. Their newhome was situated on a secluded beach away from the city center. 

The house, built in an exotic tropical style, had numerous rooms, a swimming pool, a tennis court stables, and even a movie theater.

The beach behind the house was theirs. As Grace walked out onto the beach and gazed at theturquoise sea, she noticed familiar music faintly coming from somewhere.At the far end of the beach was a pier stretching out to the sea. 

The cheerful music was comingfrom a carousel on top of it.When her gaze reached the Ferris wheel, towering high and slowly turning in the sky at the end ofthe pier, Grace realized something. 

On the way to the house, there had been rows of orange treeslining the fence.

 "It's reminiscent of Avington Beach." 

That evening, Grace called the man across the sea to tease him.

 "Daisy arrived safely at Avington Beach."